BANBRIDGE farrier Mark O’Hare didn’t have too far to travel to notch up his sixth bumper success of the season on St Patrick’s Day as he partnered Delvino to victory in the Johnstown Houston Mares Flat Race at Down Royal.

Sent off as the 4/5 favourite following her second-place finish on her only other start a month previously at Navan, the Dylan Thomas five-year-old is trained by Dermot McLoughlin for her Magherafelt breeder, Tilly Conway. The bay is the seventh of eight recorded foals, six of whom are fillies, out of the Southern Halo mare Alliata, dam also of the McLoughlin-trained three-time winner Avellino (by Muhtathir).

It’s such a shame that Delvino’s win came at an empty Down Royal, the Covid-19 protocols ensuring that racing could go ahead but without the large crowd which usually throngs the enclosures and hospitality units on the Co Down track’s big day. And it will be same tomorrow when the Ulster Grand National, run for the first time under the Randox banner, takes place at Downpatrick.

While the Randox Health Grand National has been cancelled for this year, the Co Antrim-headquartered company which sponsors the world’s most famous race is very much in the news having developed a rapid and accurate test for Covid-19.